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An essay about the everglades
An essay on the florida everglades
An essay on the florida everglades
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Everglades National Park is sanction to some of the most exceptional animal and plant ecosystems. From the tall, sunny rock pinelands to the humid, lush hardwood hammocks to the tropical, sawgrass marsh, the everglades is believed to be one of the most diverse and astonishing ecosystems in the United States. Sounds of birds tickle your eardrums, beautiful flowers bloom in the radiant morning sun, animals graze peacefully as they go about their day in their natural habitat. It is a breath taking sight and the most popular place for sightseers to go observe the wildlife or kick back and relax and take in the soothing fresh air.
As you travel deeper into the hammocks you start to notice over population of certain plants. These types of plants are called invasive species, which are plants that are brought form other countries and other ecosystems and inserted into the everglades ecosystem. These plants begin to take over the everglades and eventually kill off and prevent native plants from growing. Plants like the Brazilian pepper, which kills all surrounding vegetation and can cause skin irritation, are of the highest threat to the everglades. They currently cover about 700,000 acres of north and southern Florida, and about 400,000 acres just in the Everglades National Park.
Roughly 18,000 plants species are native to the numerous ecosystems of North America. Our native flora, United States native plants, allocates the infrastructure of the historic American landscape and determines the diverse ecosystems and regions of our country. These plants also supply natural sources of food, fiber, and other elements that we rely on for everyday life.
The communities of various native plants have been significantly minimized as a result of ...
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...r controlled activities. Natural upheaval such as fires, floods, tornadoes, and tree falls also provide way for invasive species to grow. The huge change brought upon the Florida landscape over the last few hundred years has set things out of balance. Without exotic species, native species and ecosystems would normally benefit from natural disturbances because they provide a chance for genetic mixing and nutrient recycling to occur.
In early 2008, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and Everglades National Park joined together to initiate a Florida Invaders, a program used to raise awareness about what’s being done and what we should do to help stop invasive flora and fauna from spreading. “The program was a good start but they should further raise awareness of the seriousness of the problem,” said Christine Beck, Ecology teaching assistant and FIU.
The effect of the Everglades in water supply is wildlife. One effect of this is, the water is dirty and unclean with mercury, phosphorus, and other hazardous waste. As a result of that, the water is killing the animals. In passage one it states,”Quantity and diversity of the wetlands wildlife
Invasive species are non-native organisms that occupy habitats and disrupt the natural ecological cycles of the habitat. They threaten the biodiversity of an ecosystem and are biological pollutants Invasive species introduced into new habitats usually maximize their reproduction in their new home and crowd out native species. Their lack of natural predators in their new community allow for a proliferation in growth and expansion as a result of their abundant food supply. Once they are established, invasive species can rarely be eliminated because their new habitat is favorable for their survival.
The invasive species, the Burmese Python has done irreparable damage to the Everglades National Park in Florida. A steady decline in mammals has been observed since the introduction of Burmese pythons occurred. Burmese pythons were first introduced into the United States as part of the pet trade which then led to the escape or intentional release out into the wild. The first notation of these species arriving was in the year 2000. However, within just eleven years this invasive species had done such a large amount of damage to Florida’s Ecosystem that many species had gone almost completely extinct.
Timmons, J. B., Alldredge, B., Rogers, W. E., & Cathey, J. C. (2012). Feral hogs negatively affect native plant communities. Informally published manuscript, Texas AgriLife Extension Service, Texas A&M , College Station, TX, Retrieved from http://feralhogs.tamu.edu/files/2010/04/feral-hogs-native-plants.pdf
SSSSS!! "There's a snake!" Welcome to the most fascinating place in the world, the Florida everglades.It's values are very important , it helps the plants ad animals have habitats, food, and places to live.It also helps lots of humans in Florida with water supplies.
Maintaining ecological diversity is necessary for the survival of a biological community. In the United States, American citizens are on the verge of irrevocably damaging one of the country's most unique and diverse treasures - the Florida Everglades. This national park is now the only remaining patch of a river that used to span 120 miles from Lake Okeechobee to the Florida Bay. Dikes and levees created by the Army Corps of Engineers in the late 1940's drained this river to reduce flooding and increase useable water for the development of the region. This major diversion of water lead to a trickle down effect causing the continual decline of the environmental state of the Everglades. Since then, debates over the Everglades' future have silently raged on for years about how, why, and when the restoration will begin. This ongoing, but virtually unproductive effort has cost taxpayers a great deal without any apparent benefits. Recently, this debate has been amplified by the voices of the sugar industry in Florida, which was attacked for its major contribution to pollution of the Everglades. Now debates rage on with a new effort called the Restudy. Backed by the Army Corps of Engineers, this effort would change the flow of the Everglades, potentially restoring it into the viable community of life that it used to be. The question now is, will this latest attempt to restore the Everglades ever be realized (thus ending the cyclic Everglades debate) or will it simply add up to one more notch on the bedpost of inadequate and failed attempts to save this national treasure. The world is watching to see how the United States will handle this unprecedented cleanup.
The piece I chose to do my literary analysis on was the article, The Truth About Invasive Species, written by Alan Burdick. The article states that invasive species are all around us, but the area with the most prominent amount is the suburbs of Miami. It goes into detail about how abundant invasive species are in this area. Most people who would see a strange animal in their lawn or area would be bemused, however for the people of Southern Florida, this is a recurring scene. Burdick states that “virtually everyone in the South Florida, including Hardwick, has a neighbor with a backyard menagerie of lucrative critters on hold for resale”. Burdick describes both how an invasive species is introduced into an ecosystem, and the impact the have on other species upon their arrival.
The Florida Everglades have been slowly and steadily diminishing in size for over many decades. Throughout the years, the Everglades have had an abundant, healthy environment. The massive swamps were once rich with marshland, and had ecosystems chock-full of wildlife. However, due to large corporations, natural disasters and most importantly, the growth of the human population, the Everglades are 50% smaller than they were hundreds of years ago. The destruction of the Florida Everglades includes not only a diminishing number of the marshland, but also the lessening of wild life, such as alligators, herons, and exotic plants. While there is a government plan set for the restoration of the everglades, it will take many years to make up for the
The Florida Everglades is very valuable to the environment. The Everglades helps the food chain continue and keep plant and animal life safe. Many different kinds of species that live in the Everglades. If someone destroyed the Everglades, then a lot of plants and animals would die and have nowhere to go and possibly go extinct. The Everglades provides many habitats for different types of plants and animals that only can survive in it. The Everglades provides a healthy ecosystem for plants and animals to work in harmony.
An ecosystem is a very fragile system, much like a house of cards or row of dominoes. With one small change, the whole things can break down and collapse. This analogy directly describes many ecosystems such as the Everglades in Florida, which is facing changes that are upsetting the ecosystem's delicate balance. Located in Florida, the Everglades is a massive wetland consisting of many marshes and mangrove forests. It is also the home to many animal species, many of which are very rare. The Everglades was like this for many years until its natural order was disrupted by in the early 1900s by incoming settlers. These settlers saw the Everglades as useless marshes, so they ended up draining these marshes to allow the land to be used
In recent years, invasive species have become a significant concern to ecologists in many ecosystems around the globe. Specifically, the explosive of non-native Burmese pythons (Python bivittatus) in the Florida Everglades has become a major concern among ecologists and the general public alike. While it is generally accepted that this population has stemmed from the escape of these snakes from the exotic pet trade (Pyron et al., 2008), and that the snakes have been able to flourish due to the climatic similarities between South Florida and their native regions of subtropic Southeast Asia, scientists are still trying to determine exactly how the python population in the Everglades has managed to become so successful, which is being done by
(Sept. 23rd, 2011) Exotic Pets Turning Invasive, Threatening Florida. Tech Media. Retrieved March 10, 2014, from http://www.livescience.com/16204-florida-invasive-reptiles-amphibians.html. WYKC Channel 3 News (2014, February 14). Investigator: Exotic Animals Living in NE Ohio Neighbourhood [Video File].
Florida became a state in 1845 and almost immediately people began proposing to drain the Everglades. In 1848, a government report said that draining the Everglades would be easy, and there would be no bad effect. Canals and dams were dug to control seasonal flooding. Farmers grew vegetables in the rich soil of the drained land, Ranchers had their cattle graze on the dry land, and new railways lines were constructed to connect communities throughout south Florida; but the ecosystem of the Everglades was not suited for either farming or ranching. The natural cycle of dry and wet seasons brought a devastating series of droughts and floods. These had always been a p...
Plant species that are native to California offer unique and well-suited characteristics that greatly benefit the environment and promote biodiversity. Native plants are the foundation of the ecosystem, and have co-evolved with the local wildlife, fungi and microbes to create an efficient and functional ecosystem. Local wildlife have developed intricate, close-knit relationships with native plants, and rely on them. The wildlife rely on the fruits, nuts, and seeds of native plant species, as well as the unique shelter, seasonal weather protection and reproduction and nesting habitat. Native plants provide the building blocks for a thriving ecosystem with high biodiversity. Losses in biodiversity in our environment
On the first level, when foreign, but previously non-invasive species is first introduced to a new area, the new species may play a role in a community that was previously unfulfilled; it may fill a vacant niche in the ecosystem. Originally this new species may be seen as a useful contributor to its new surroundings because it has only (temporarily) increased biodiversity in the area (Meinesz, 2003).